Background:Empirical studies indicated that job-related stress is threatening the well-being of Nigerian public workers. The objective of this investigation was to examine the impact of REOHC for improving work-stress management among Staff of Nigeria Police Force in southeast Nigeria.Method:This is a pretest-posttest control group design study with follow-up. A total of 63 Nigerian police officers (randomized into one of 2 groups: n = 32 for treatment group, n = 31 for waitlist control group) completed the study. Two self-report questionnaire measuring organizational and operational stressors associated with police general well-being were used as outcome measures. The intervention group received a 12-week REBC manual intervention. The intervention and waitlisted groups were evaluated at 3-time points: Time1, Time2, and Time3. Statistical analyses were achieved using repeated-measures ANOVA.Results:Results showed that there was no significant difference between the REOHC group and waiting-list control group in initial work-related stress management among staff of Nigerian Police Force. REOHC program had a significant effect on work-related stress management among staff of Nigerian Police Force when compared to their counterparts in the waiting-list control group.Conclusion:Therefore, REOHC program is a time-effective treatment approach for improving work-stress management among Staff of Nigeria Police Force in southeast Nigeria.

Background: High-stress level affects students’ health and many of them experiencing high levels of stress are at risk of burnout. School administrators are often concerned about the experiences and negative effects of burnout among students and staff. Burnout is described as a psychological reaction to chronic stress. The aim of the current study was to investigate the effect of a group-focused intervention (rational emotive behavior coaching, REBC) on academic burnout among undergraduate students attending public universities in Southeast Nigeria. Methods: A group randomized controlled trial design was adopted for this study. A total of 52 convenient samples of undergraduate students (with a high degree of burnout symptoms) took part in the research. We used a group REBT program manual for the management of burnout which was complemented with REBC techniques. Data were gathered with the aid of the perceived stress scale (PSS-10) and Oldenburg Burnout inventory-student (OLBI-S). Data were analyzed using ANOVA and paired t test at .05 probability level. Results: Results showed that the group-focused REBC program significantly alleviated burnout symptoms among students in the treatment group compared to students in the control group as measured by OLBI-S subscales: exhaustion ( F (1,51) = 41.789, P = .000, , Δ R 2 = 0.634, SE = 1.00), and disengagement ( F (1,51) = 196.036, P = .000, , Δ R 2 = 0.869, SE = 0.69). The students who benefitted from the group-focused REBC program maintained reduced symptoms of burnout after three months when the researchers conducted a follow-up as measured by OLBI-S subscales: exhaustion ( F (1,51) = 34.012, P = .000, , Δ R 2 = 0.467, SE = 1.21), and disengagement ( F (1,51) = 108.941, P = .000, , Δ R 2 = 0.765, SE = 0.85). Conclusion: This research indicates that group-focused REBC can be applied to reduce burnout symptoms among undergraduate students. The group-focused REBC intervention may be adapted to overcome employee burnout and school administrators’ burnout. Researchers may need to investigate the possibility of storing and harnessing data from studies on REBC and burnout and delivering computer-based/internet REBC program following evidence-based computing strategies and principles.

Background: This study aimed at investigating the effect of rational emotive occupational health coaching on quality of work-life among primary school administrators.Method: This is a double blinded and randomized control design study. A total of 158 administrators were sampled, half of them were exposed to rational emotive occupational health treatment package that lasted for 12 sessions. Two self-report measures were utilized in assessing the participants using quality of work life scale. Data collected were analyzed using MANOVA statistical tool.Result: The results showed that rational emotive occupational health coaching is effective in improving perception of quality of worklife among public administrators. A follow-up result showed that rational emotive occupational health coaching had a significant effect on primary school administrators' quality of work life. Conclusion:This study concluded rational emotive occupation health coaching is useful therapeutic strategy in improving quality of work of primary school administrators, hence, future researchers and clinical practitioners should adopt cognitive-behavioral techniques and principles in helping employers as well as employees. Based on the primary findings and limitations of this study, future studies, occupational psychotherapists should qualitatively explore the clinical relevance of rational emotive occupational health practice across cultures using different populations Abbreviation: QSWLS = quality of school work life scale.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) disease outbreak was a public health emergency of international concern which eventually evolved into a pandemic. Nigeria was locked down in March, 2020 as the country battled to contain the spread of the disease. By August 2020, phase-by-phase easing of the lockdown was commenced and university students will soon return for academic activities. This study undertakes some epidemiological analysis of the Nigerian COVID-19 data to help the government and university administrators make informed decisions on the safety of personnel and students.The COVID-19 data on confirmed cases, deaths, and recovered were obtained from the website of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) from April 2, 2020 to August 24, 2020. The infection rate, prevalence, ratio, cause-specific death rate, and case recovery rate were used to evaluate the epidemiological characteristics of the pandemic in Nigeria. Exponential smoothing was adopted in modeling the time series data and forecasting the pandemic in Nigeria up to January 31, 2021.The results indicated that the pandemic had infection rate of at most 3 infections per 1 million per day from April to August 2020. The death rate was 5 persons per 1 million during the period of study while recovery rate was 747 persons per 1000 infections. Analysis of forecast data showed steady but gradual decrease in the daily infection rate and death rate and substantial increase in the recovery rate, 975 recoveries per 1000 infections.In general, the epidemiological attributes of the pandemic from the original data and the forecast data indicated optimism in the decrease in the rate of infection and death in the future. Moreover, the infection rate, prevalence and death rate in January 2021 coincided with the predictions based on the analysis. Therefore, the Nigerian government is encouraged to allow universities in the country to reopen while university administrators set up the necessary protocols for strict adherence to safety measures.

Background: Studies have found that pre-service teachers commonly face stressful circumstances that prevent them from completing their academic tasks effectively. In terms of psychological factors and interventions, pre-service history teachers in Nigeria are the least studied group. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of stress management coaching among Nigerian pre-service history teachers.Methods: The research participants consisted of a randomized sample of 109 pre-service history teachers from Nigerian public higher education institutions (55 pre-service history teachers composed the stress management coaching group while 54 pre-service history teachers composed the waitlist control group). The stress management coaching for the pre-service history teachers was guided by a coaching manual created using the theoretical framework of rational emotive behavior coaching.Results: Pre-service history teachers who participated in stress management coaching showed significantly reduced stress levels at the post-test and follow-up. There was an interaction effect between group and time on the stress of pre-service history teachers. Conclusion:The study suggests that pre-service history teachers can benefit from a stress management coaching intervention that uses the rational emotive behavior coaching approach. The development of this form of stress management coaching program on a large scale among pre-service history teachers could prove beneficial to their academic and personal success. Studies may be conducted in the future to examine the stress of history teachers in colleges and the efficacy of stress management coaching.

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The researchers investigated the effect of the token economy on low academic self- concept of secondary school students in Enugu North, Enugu state, Nigeria. The pre test, post test, control group quasi-experimental design was adopted for this study. Two research questions and two null hypothesis tested at a 0.05 level of significance guided the study. The population of this study comprised 10,032 senior secondary school students II in Enugu North, Nigeria. The researchers sampled 60 students using purposive and cluster sampling techniques. Two instruments developed by the researchers were used for data collections, namely Students Low Academic Self- concept Identification Scale (SLASCS) and Low Academic Self-Concept Dictating Scale (LASCDS). The instruments were validated by experts in departments of measurement and valuation as well as Guidance and Counselling. The reliability of the instruments was ascertained through test-retest method using Cronbach Alpha Statistics which yielded reliability coefficients of 0.83 and 0.85 for SLASCS and LASCDS respectively. Data collected were analyzed using mean score and standard deviation to answer the research questions. The hypothesis was tested using the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) at 5% level of significance. The findings revealed among others that TERS (Token Economy Reinforcement) is significantly effective in the reduction of low academic self- concept among students at post-test and follow-uptests. From the above findings, it was recommended among others, that Teachers, educators and instructors should make use of token economy reinforcement system in the reduction of low academic self- concept among students to enhance their academic performance for greater productivity.<p> </p><p><strong> Article visualizations:</strong></p><p><img src="/-counters-/soc/0041/a.php" alt="Hit counter" /></p>

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